Grover Cleveland "Cleve" Backster, Jr. (February 27, 1924 – June 24, 2013) was an interrogation specialist for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), best known for his experiments with plants using a polygraph instrument in the 1960s which led to his theory of "primary perception" where he claimed that plants "feel pain" and have extrasensory perception (ESP), which was widely reported in the media but was rejected by the scientific community. He was born in Lafayette Township, New Jersey on F...

Random thought. The article at the end mentions blasting plants with music to e.g. getting them to produce fruit earlier if the winter is coming.

If the mechanosensitivity mechanism is understood, it could be used, with just a bit of genetic engineering, for intentional triggering of various actions of the plants. E.g. hold the fruit in a polytunnel-orchard almost-ripe until the market demands it, then ripen on-demand just as much as can be immediately sold.

Living organisms react negatively to damage. Shocker. The phrase “plants can tell when they’re being eaten, and they don’t like it” seems to imply cognizance. I realize that click bait is becoming the norm but these kinds of science article click bait titles are problematic IMO.

The consequence is in repetition without understanding and in the decisions people will make based on misunderstanding… For example, many people believe we only use 10% of our brain. In the 1890’s Professor William James of Harvard took part in a study on accelerated raising of child prodigy. He used to say “people only meet a fraction of their full mental potential”. Later, during the self help movement, many books (such as in the foreword to How to Win Friends and Influence People) included a false 10% to his claim. Without the scientific background behind James’ work, the general public was mislead so successfully, this un-truth is repeated over 100 years later by well educated but misinformed people. In other words, it adds to the excess of things around us which tend to dumb down society as a whole.

vonbobo:

What is the difference?

The plant doesn’t sense anything. The reaction is on a cellular level and is completely autonomic in response to very specific stimuli. The plant neither likes nor dislikes anything. It merely reacts whereas a complex animal not only has an autonomic but a cerebral response as well. We can actually “tell” when we are being eaten and can like or dislike the sensation according to our will. I think it’s probably related to our misguided desire to personify the world to make it easier for people to understand which relates back to the dumbing down of society